THE CLOSING OF THE YEAR: Artwork and info!

While “The Place Where Dreaming Ends” performed really well, I still wanted to end this year on something special. The intention was to wind things down towards the end of 2013 so I can concentrate more on writing and producing. Whether that ends up being the case or not is up to you – if enough of you ask me for new music then I’ll make time. (~.^)

And I always wanted to make a Christmas album. The problem has simply been time. Between producing, writing, remixes and travelling it has been very difficult finding time to continue working on my own projects. Which is why the release of “The Closing of the Year” might seem last minute – because it has been! (^^) The EP has gone from conception to execution and release within the space of 2 weeks, give or take. But this excruciating deadline hasn’t affected the music – the decision to put out an EP of quality was made over the option of a full album that might have been rushed. The title track’s epic arrangement and the performance on “River” are two of my best that I am entirely proud of. (^^#)

There will be a delay with this EP reaching other retailers – this is simply down to licensing issues, which are taking just as long to resolve as producing the album itself! (^^) But once all that is in place the EP will be available from all the usual online stores in the USA and Europe (iTunes, Amazon etc.). In the meantime, all the paperwork is already in place for a surprise release right here on BentleyJones.com on Monday! (~.^) I’m hoping you’ll all support the EP on the main site while we work on getting it out to other stores ASAP.

Finally, some of you will be wondering about the inclusion of “Joyful” on this EP when most of you already have this song. As you know, my catalogue from my previous label is no longer available to download and there were no plans to re-release “Joyful” next year. So this seemed the perfect opportunity to put it back out there for peeps who didn’t get it the first time around. It’s been remastered to fit the new EP and add some extra seasonal warmth.

So there you have it. (~.^) If you’ve tolerated my ramblings for this entire post you’ll have spotted the surprise release date. In the meantime, there’s a larger render of the album art below and I’ll get some audio clips for you to check out over the weekend.